SUCCESS!!!

6 and a half months. 

25 trips to Dallas. 

390 doses of egg white powder.

Late nights.  

Early mornings.

Driving.

Flying.

Waiting.

Hoping.

All culminated with this:

Egg.  

Rubbery, four hour old egg.

  And he ATE it.

 ALL of it.  

And he was FINE.

No Epipen needed.  

No ER visit required.

THIS is what living feels like.

On November 10, 2015 we were set FREE from Brendan's egg allergy!!

OIT is AMAZING.

Egg down.  

Peanuts and tree nuts: we're coming for you!!

A Flying Updose Day in Pictures

I know I promised this post a couple of weeks ago, so I figured I should get around to it!  Here is what our day is like when we fly for updoses :).

6:30am: Brendan eats his morning dose at home.  Our updose appointment is scheduled at 3;15pm, so by the time the doctor checks him out, he'll be eating his updose at 3:30pm, exactly 9 hours after his morning dose.  Doses need to be 9-15 hours apart, so timing doses on updose day is super important.  Note: This picture may or may not be staged with absolutely no food on the spoon or in the bowl because someone may or may not have forgotten that she promised an updose day in pics on the blog!!

Headed to school at around 7:45 am.  We watch Brendan for the first hour after his dose each day and then send him to school.  He cannot exercise until 2 hours after his dose, so the school made sure to schedule his P.E. after 9am this year.  Brendan will go to school until 11:15am this morning, and then we'll head off to the airport.  When we fly for updoses, he gets an extra hour in school!

8:30am:  After I take the boys to school, I head home and pack up.  Believe it or not, this backpack and a small lunch box are the only things we take with us to Dallas each week.

8:30am Continued:  These are the items that "live" in the backpack.  I keep these items packed each week so that I don't have to repack them.  We bring a very minimal change of clothes and toiletries just in case we get stranded.  Also living in the backpack are a clipboard and pencil for school work, a can of Pringles for carbs just before the updose and a pack of wipies to wipe down the seats of the airplane once we board.

9:00am:  I add Brendan's meds and my wallet to the bag, as well as a water bottle (not pictured) and a few electronics (also not pictured).

9:00am Continued:  I also add the things we'll need for our updose.  We carry a letter with us form our allergist that allows us to carry on pudding, yogurt, applesauce, a cool pack, and liquid solution (diluted eggs or nuts) if needed.  Next, I pick Brendan up from school at 11:15am, and then we head to the airport!

So, I may have had another serious memory lapse about taking updose pictures again. Sorry!!  Here's what's not pictured:  It takes us about 30 minutes to drive to the airport. We park off site and take a shuttle to the airport.  Our flight is usually scheduled for 1pm.  Back to the pictures: 12pm:  Once we're through security, we fill up the water bottles we've brought with us.  We also take a seat and eat the lunch we've packed.  We'll buy dinner on the way home, but to save money, we bring lunch with us!

12:15pm: After we've eaten our lunch, Brendan works on school work until it is time to board the plane.  He has an app that allows him to practice his spelling words on his iPad.  He also usually has a few worksheets from the classes he'll miss while he's gone.  Our flight leaves at 1pm and will land in Dallas at 2pm.  Everything is running on time today, thankfully!

2pm:  We're here!!  At Love Field, you head to the lower level and find the "transportation network" signs if you want to use Uber to get to your location.

2:10pm:  We have an Uber driver enroute.  Unfortunately, it was this driver's first time picking up at Love Field, and he got lost.  It took him 20 minutes to find us.  Luckily, I've got extra time built into our schedule for mishaps like this.  Our appointment isn't until 3:15, so we've still got over an hour before we need to be at the office.

2:15pm: Airport selfie!! Still waiting for the Uber driver. . .

2:28:  We're finally on our way!!  The total trip takes about 15-20 minutes.  I snapped this picture about half way through the drive.

3:30pm:  Updose time!!!  That's 2 teaspoons of egg white powder mixed into pudding!!  We're SO close to the final dose of 3 teaspoons!!  After Brendan takes his dose, they set the timer for 45 minutes, and we wait. . .

3:45pm: The dose is in, and we wait for 45 minutes to make sure Brendan doesn't have a reaction.  He doesn't!  All is well!

4:40pm:  We wait outside the doctor's office for Uber to come get us.  It usually takes about 10 minutes for Uber to arrive to the doctor's office.  At the airport, it usually only takes about 5 minutes to get a driver (except for today and our poor new Uber driver!!).

4:50pm:  And we're off!!  This Uber driver knew exactly where he was going!

5:15pm:  We seem to hit the airport "rush" hour on our way back from our appointments.  There is almost always a long line for security in Dallas.  That's not a problem, though, since I schedule our flights with plenty of wiggle room.   Our flight isn't until 7pm!

5:45pm:  We buy dinner in the airport.  So far we've tried a burrito place that's similar to Chipotle, Chili's, and of course, Chick-Fil-A.  I am thankful that there are several safe dinner options for him in the airport!

6:20pm:  We should board our 7pm flight around 6:30.  I know many people have questions about flying with peanut allergies, so I thought I'd take a minute to inform you about how flying with a peanut allergy works on Southwest.  When I make Brendan's flight reservation, I click on a link that asks if he has a disability.  Then, I select the "peanut dust allergy" option.  When we arrive at the gate after security, I ask the gate agent to print out two forms: his "peanut dust allergy document" (at the top of the pic), and his preboard authorization (at the bottom of the pic).  We will preboard with others who have disabilities.  This gives me a chance to wipe down Brendan's seat, tray table, and surrounding areas, since Southwest routinely serves peanuts on their flights.  When we board the plane, I give the peanut document to the flight attendant and he or she sees to it that there will be no peanuts served on our flight.  They serve pretzels instead to everyone on the flight.  The pretzels are not safe (cross contamination with nuts), so bring your own snack to eat!

7:15pm:  Our flight was delayed by a few minutes, but we're finally on board and ready for take off!

Our flight must have made up time in the air because we land just a few minutes after 8pm.  We head to the parking shuttle, grab out car and then head home.  It's 8:54 when we pull into the driveway.  When we drive, we usually arrive back home about half an hour later.  So, in all, flying saves us about an hour and a half of time and a TON of energy!!